When Truth Matters Most

A continuation of postings on essays, quotes, pros, and events from "Modern Prophecy From The Voice Of One Crying In the Wilderness."(see Blog)
There are times in man's history when truth is more important than freedom, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and anyone's way of life. Because without truth to light the way, all other things are doomed to destruction.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

The Quiet Death Of Freedom

On Christmas Eve, I dropped in on Brian Haw, whose hunched, pacing figure was just visible through the freezing fog. For four and a half years, Brian has camped in Parliament Square with a graphic display of photographs that show the terror and suffering imposed on Iraqi children by British policies. The effectiveness of his action was demonstrated last April when the Blair government banned any expression of opposition within a kilometre of Parliament. The High Court subsequently ruled that, because his presence preceded the ban, Brian was an exception.

Day after day, night after night, season upon season, he remains a beacon, illuminating the great crime of Iraq and the cowardice of the House of Commons. As we talked, two women brought him a Christmas meal and mulled wine. They thanked him, shook his hand and hurried on. He had never seen them before. "That's typical of the public," he said. A man in a pin-striped suit and tie emerged from the fog, carrying a small wreath. ""I intend to place this at the Cenotaph and read out the names of the dead in Iraq," he said to Brian, who cautioned him: "You'll spend the night in cells, mate." We watched him stride off and lay his wreath. His head bowed, he appeared to be whispering. Thirty years ago, I watched dissidents do something similar outside the walls of the Kremlin.

As night had covered him, he was lucky. On 7 December, Maya Evans, a vegan chef aged 25, was convicted of breaching the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act by reading aloud at the Cenotaph the names of 97 British soldiers killed in Iraq. So serious was her crime that it required 14 policemen in two vans to arrest her. She was fined and given a criminal record for the rest of her life.

Freedom is dying.

Eighty-year-old John Catt served with the RAF in the Second World War. Last September, he was stopped by police in Brighton for wearing an "offensive" T-shirt, which suggested that Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes. He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and handcuffed, with his arms held behind his back. The official record of the arrest says the "purpose" of searching him was "terrorism" and the "grounds for intervention" were "carrying placard and T-shirt with anti-Blair info" (sic).

He is awaiting trial.

Such cases compare with others that remain secret and beyond any form of justice: those of the foreign nationals held at Belmarsh prison, who have never been charged, let alone put on trial. They are held "on suspicion". Some of the "evidence" against them, whatever it is, the Blair government has now admitted, could have been extracted under torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. They are political prisoners in all but name. They face the prospect of being spirited out of the country into the arms of a regime which may torture them to death. Their isolated families, including children, are quietly going mad.

And for what? From 11 September 2001 to 30 September 2005, a total of 895 people were arrested in Britain under the Terrorism Act. Only 23 have been convicted of offences covered by the Act. As for real terrorists, the identity of two of the 7 July bombers, including the suspected mastermind, was known to MI5, and nothing was done. And Blair wants to give them more power. Having helped to devastate Iraq, he is now killing freedom in his own country.

Consider parallel events in the United States. Last October, an American surgeon, loved by his patients, was punished with 22 years in prison for founding a charity, Help the Needy, which helped children in Iraq stricken by an economic and humanitarian blockade imposed by America and Britain. In raising money for infants dying from diarrhoea, Dr Rafil Dhafir broke a siege which, according to Unicef, had caused the deaths of half a million under the age of five. The then Attorney-General of the United States, John Ashcroft, called Dr Dhafir, a Muslim, a "terrorist", a description mocked by even the judge in his politically-motivated, travesty of a trial.

The Dhafir case is not extraordinary. In the same month, three US Circuit Court judges ruled in favour of the Bush regime's "right" to imprison an American citizen "indefinitely" without charging him with a crime. This was the case of Joseph Padilla, a petty criminal who allegedly visited Pakistan before he was arrested at Chicago airport three and a half years ago. He was never charged and no evidence has ever been presented against him. Now mired in legal complexity, the case puts George W Bush above the law and outlaws the Bill of Rights. Indeed, on 14 November, the US Senate effectively voted to ban habeas corpus by passing an amendment that overturned a Supreme Court ruling allowing Guantanamo prisoners access to a federal court. Thus, the touchstone of America's most celebrated freedom was scrapped. Without habeas corpus, a government can simply lock away its opponents and implement a dictatorship.

A related, insidious tyranny is being imposed across the world. For all his troubles in Iraq, Bush has carried out the recommendations of a Messianic conspiracy theory called the "Project for a New American Century". Written by his ideological sponsors shortly before he came to power, it foresaw his administration as a military dictatorship behind a democratic façade: "the cavalry on a new American frontier" guided by a blend of paranoia and megalomania. More than 700 American bases are now placed strategically in compliant countries, notably at the gateways to the sources of fossil fuels and encircling the Middle East and Central Asia. "Pre-emptive" aggression is policy, including the use of nuclear weapons. The chemical warfare industry has been reinvigorated. Missile treaties have been torn up. Space has been militarised. Global warming has been embraced. The powers of the president have never been greater. The judicial system has been subverted, along with civil liberties. The former senior CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who once prepared the White House daily briefing, told me that the authors of the PNAC and those now occupying positions of executive power used to be known in Washington as "the crazies". He said, "We should now be very worried about fascism".

In his epic acceptance of the Nobel Prize in Literature on 7 December, Harold Pinter spoke of "a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed". He asked why "the systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought" of Stalinist Russia was well known in the west while American state crimes were merely "superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged".

A silence has reigned. Across the world, the extinction and suffering of countless human beings can be attributed to rampant American power, "but you wouldn't know it," said Pinter. "It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest."

To its credit, the Guardian in London published every word of Pinter's warning. To its shame, though unsurprising, the state television broadcaster ignored it. All that Newsnight flatulence about the arts, all that recycled preening for the cameras at Booker prize-giving events, yet the BBC could not make room for Britain's greatest living dramatist, so honoured, to tell the truth.

For the BBC, it simply never happened, just as the killing of half a million children by America's medieval siege of Iraq during the 1990s never happened, just as the Dhafir and Padilla trials and the Senate vote, banning freedom, never happened. The political prisoners of Belmarsh barely exist; and a big, brave posse of Metropolitan police never swept away Maya Evans as she publicly grieved for British soldiers killed in the cause of nothing, except rotten power.

Bereft of irony, but with a snigger, the BBC newsreader Fiona Bruce introduced, as news, a Christmas propaganda film about Bush's dogs. That happened. Now imagine Bruce reading the following: "Here is delayed news, just in. From 1945 to 2005, the United States attempted to overthrow 50 governments, many of them democracies, and to crush 30 popular movements fighting tyrannical regimes. In the process, 25 countries were bombed, causing the loss of several million lives and the despair of millions more." (Thanks to William Blum's Rogue State, Common Courage Press, 2005).

The icon of horror of Saddam Hussein's rule is a 1988 film of petrified bodies in the Kurdish town of Halabja, killed in a chemical weapons attack. The attack has been referred to a great deal by Bush and Blair and the film shown a great deal by the BBC. At the time, as I know from personal experience, the Foreign Office tried to cover up the crime at Halabja. The Americans tried to blame it on Iran. Today, in an age of images, there are no images of the chemical weapons attack on Fallujah in November 2004. This allowed the Americans to deny it until they were caught out recently by investigators using the internet. For the BBC, American atrocities simply do not happen.

In 1999, while filming in Washington and Iraq, I learned the true scale of bombing in what the Americans and British then called Iraq's "no fly zones". During the 18 months to 14 January, 1999, US aircraft flew 24,000 combat missions over Iraq; almost every mission was bombing or strafing. "We're down to the last outhouse," a US official protested. "There are still some things left [to bomb], but not many." That was six years ago. In recent months, the air assault on Iraq has multiplied; the effect on the ground cannot be imagined. For the BBC it has not happened.

The black farce extends to those pseudo-humanitarians in the media and elsewhere, who themselves have never seen the effects of cluster bombs and air-burst shells, yet continue to invoke the crimes of Saddam to justify the the nightmare in Iraq and to protect a quisling prime minister who has sold out his country and made the world more dangerous. Curiously, some of them insist on describing themselves as "liberals" and "left of centre", even "anti-fascists". They want some respectability, I suppose. This is understandable, given that the league table of carnage of Saddam Hussein was overtaken long ago by that of their hero in Downing Street, who will next support an attack on Iran.

This cannot change until we, in the west, look in the mirror and confront the true aims and narcissism of the power applied in our name: its extremes and terrorism. The traditional double-standard no longer works; there are now millions like Brian Haw, Maya Evans, John Catt and the man in the pin-striped suit, with his wreath. Looking in the mirror means understanding that a violent and undemocratic order is being imposed by those whose actions are little different from the actions of fascists. The difference used to be distance. Now they are bringing it home. John Pilger's new book, Freedom Next Time, will be published in June by Bantam Press.First published in the New Statesman – www.newstatesman.co.uk

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Thursday, October 06, 2005

Wanted: A leader for America

By Noam Chomsky

The human toll of Katrina is incalculable, especially among the region's poorest citizens, but a relevant number is the 28-per cent poverty rate in New Orleans - more than twice the national rate. During the Bush administration the US poverty rate has grown, and welfare's limited safety net has been weakened further.

United States of Shame

by Maureen Dowd

America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening in America.

Their God Is Bigger Than Our God

His mouthpieces in America - who always seem so sure of themselves, so sure that they alone hear God speaking, and so willing to share His wisdom with the rest of us - have gone strangely quiet of late.http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1005-20.htm

US poverty: chronic ill, little hope for cure:Four decades after a U.S. president declared war on poverty, more than 37 million people in the world's richest country are officially classified as poor and their number has been on the rise for years.http://tinyurl.com/anzgb

Congress Seeks to Slash Food Aid for Poor :Under orders to whittle agriculture spending by $3 billion, Republicans in Congress propose to slash food programs for the poor by $574 million and subsidies and conservation programs by $1 billion each,http://tinyurl.com/7d4mw

No aid planned to help low-income families, seniors with energy costs:The Bush administration yesterday said it has no plans to ask Congress for additional funds to help low-income families and financially stretched seniors deal with rapidly escalating home heating bills.http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05277/582214.stm

Wal-Mart Turns in Student's Anti-Bush Photo, Secret Service Investigates Him:Selina Jarvis is the chair of the social studies department at Currituck County High School in North Carolina, and she is not used to having the Secret Service question her or one of her students.http://progressive.org/mag_mc100405

Connect the Dots: "For years, governments all over the world have secretly been collaborating with the high-end color laser printer industry in order to track the origin of every color copy made. They're doing it by programming the printers to create specific patterns of yellow dots-not visible to the naked eye-on every copyhttp://webserver.computoredge.com/editorial/2339/world.htm

Friday, September 30, 2005

Truth Written, Truth Spoken, Truth Handed Down Through the Ages

By Hugh Lipsius

In all of man's history, truth (that which agrees with the final reality) has always held itself out to be embraced...and whether it waxs or wains...freedom, liberty, national interest, the pursuit of happiness, or any nations way of life must take a back seat to it. Without the written and spoken word of truth to light the way,to help us recognize the lie, lawlessness occurs, and all other principles and values are doomed to destruction. Truth is the forerunner of justice, and lies the forunner of injustice. Without truth to confront the lawlessness of the lie, there is nothing else to value.

When Addressing anything...truth is what matters most...when truth was told thousands of years ago that has its bearing today...it must be embraced...not ignored...you might do all you can to prove this wrong before you will accept it as truth...but when you finally accept it...then truth will be all that matters...and politics nor any government administration can seperate itself from the truth...no matter how hard it tries...there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed in its time.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day (the Day of our Lord) will not come unless the falling away ( of truth speaking, saving faith, the faith once delivered unto the saints) comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition...who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God (mercy, grace, patience, kindness, goodness and truth) or that is worshipped (life), so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (thinking to himself that he knows what is best for mankind and it is his destiny to fulfill that mandate)...( "if you eat of that tree you will surely die"[Sound like someone you know]?)...Do you not remember that while I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, (mercy, grace, patience, kindness, goodness and truth), that he (the lawless one) may be revealed in his time ( when these are no longer embraced by Gods people on earth)...For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He (God, and all His character) who now restrains (when that character is yet still in us) will do so until He (God's character that it meant to be embraced in us) is taken out of the way. (Love and its characteristics are received or rejected voluntarily by an act of our own free will)....And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord (the spoken and living word of truth) will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming...The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders...and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish (who reject, or turn from the truth and instead embrace the lie), because they did not receive the love of the truth (even though it was offered, instead choosing forms, rights and rituals,...all external coverings of what is meant to expose internal truth...false Christianity...the lie), that they might be saved...And for this reason God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrightousness (selfish, self-centerdness that desires to control the freewill of others through the deception of self-righteousness and seeks its own reward)...But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification (setting apart) by the Spirit and belief in the truth (which refuses to allow us to exalt self in place of GOD). II Thessalonians 2:3-13

Sunni Says No Chance For Iraq Constitution Deal

"The constitution issue is dead until the referendum," said Sunni negotiator Hussein al-Falluji on Thursday. "We will vote 'No' and we will not accept the American policy of aggression to get what they want. There is no way we will support it."

U.S. General Casts Doubt On 2006 Troop Cut In Iraq

The top U.S. general in Iraq on Wednesday cast doubt on his previous forecasts of a substantial cut in American forces in 2006, saying Iraq was in a period of heightened uncertainty that made it "too soon to tell" if troops can be brought home.

Manipulating the Public Mind

By Charles Sullivan

No one is more effectively enslaved by the power brokers in government than those who wear the chains of servitude but think they are free. Unfortunately, the average American has no conception of how effectively their perceptions are shaped and manipulated by the media propaganda they unwittingly feed into their unsuspecting minds.

The Anti-war Speech Everyone is Talking About

" ... No "terrorist" gene is known to exist or is likely to be found... Surely the(y), and their supporters were afflicted by something that caused their metamorphosis from normal human beings capable of gentleness and affection into desperate, maddened, fiends with nothing but murder in their hearts and minds. What was that? Simple logic says that we must go to the roots of terror. Only a fool can believe that the services of a suicidal terrorist can be purchased, or that they can be bred at will anywhere: Ouch Borith: Permanent Representative Of The Kingdom Of Cambodia To The UN: 10/03/2001

"In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.": Thich Nhat Hanh - Vietnamese monk, activist and writer.

Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong: James Bryce

The Silent Coup

By John Atcheson

The grease that lubricates this new model of government is greed; the fuel that feeds it is money. Lots of it. And overwhelmingly, the hard-line, right-wing conservative branch of the Republican Party are both its architect, and its beneficiary.

The Right To Armed Struggle

By Mickey Z.

When early American revolutionaries chanted, "Give me liberty or give me death" and complained of having but one life to give for their country, they became the heroes of our history textbooks. But, thanks to the power of the U.S. media and education industries, the Puerto Rican nationalists who dedicated their lives to independence are known as criminals, fanatics, and assassins.

U.S.Assassinates Puerto Rican Independence Figure

By Bill Van Auken

The nationalist leader was struck by a single bullet from a sharpshooter's high-powered rifle. While he suffered no wound to any vital organ, he was left to bleed to death on the floor of his home as FBI agents refused to allow Puerto Rican authorities and emergency medical teams anywhere near the house, maintaining a militarized perimeter for 24 hours.

Like Silt In a River

"What no one seemed to notice . . . was the ever widening gap . . . between the government and the people. . . And it became always wider. . . the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting, it provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway . . . (it) gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about . . .and kept us so busy with continuous changes and 'crises' and so fascinated . . . by the machinations of the 'national enemies,' without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us. . . Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, 'regretted,' that unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these 'little measures'. . . must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. . . .Each act is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow. You don't want to act, or even talk, alone. You don't want to 'go out of your way to make trouble.' . . . But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That's the difficulty. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves. When everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. . . .You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things your father . . . could never have imagined.” From Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free, the Germans, 1938-45 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955)

Modern Prophecy From The Voice Of One Crying In The Wilderness

Monday, September 26, 2005

Bush Urges Larger Role for Military

George W. Bush yesterday called on Congress to consider giving the U.S. military a leading role in recovery efforts in a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist attack, a break with precedent sure to spark controversy.

The Hebron Confessions

Video: Scenes Of Israeli Massacre In Qana 1996Warning!This video of an Israeli Massacre of Palestinian & Lebanese civilians in April of 96 is very graphic and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

Confessions of a Hit Man

John Perkins' book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" explains American foreign policy better than any of the academic tomes you might read on the subject.By Charley ReeseThe foreign country hires American contractors to build the systems, and they make big profits. Then, mired in debt, the head of state will do what the United States government tells him to do. If he proves too independent or too honest to accept bribes, then he will be removed from power, either in a coup or in an accident.

The Galloway Phenomenon

By Butler Shaffer

Galloway went on to remind people that the families of those who died on 9/11 did not suffer any greater pain than did the relatives of Iraqis and Afghans who died from American and British bombings. Each suffered unjustifiable deaths delivered from the sky.

The Madness of George W. Bush

George W. Bush is ill. He has a psycho-spiritual dis-ease of the soul, a sickness that is endemic to our culture and symptomatic of the times we live in. It's an illness that has been with us since time immemorial.

America's Longest War

By Charles Sullivan

Even during our nation's darkest hours, there have always been people of conscience and courage who acted as a counter friction to the machine of social injustice that ravaged the nation and plundered the earth. Since the founding of our nation, there has always been a struggle between the rich and powerful and the nation's working poor.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Finding Osama

By Robert Fisk

Bin Laden's story was as instructive as it was epic. When the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the Saudi royal family - encouraged by the CIA - sought to provide the Afghans with an Arab legion, preferably led by a Saudi prince, who would lead a guerrilla force against the Russians.

Anti-war Movement Takes To the Streets on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Duncan Campbell and Jamie Wilson in WashingtonThe anti-war movement on both sides of the Atlantic is hoping that tens of thousands of protesters will take to the streets today in London and Washington as conditions in Iraq deteriorate.

A Policy of Absolute Barbarism?

Basra; another milestone in war on terrorBy Mike Whitney"What our police found in their car was very disturbing - weapons, explosives, and a remote control detonator. These are the weapons of terrorists. We believe these soldiers were planning an attack on a market or other civilian targets." Sheik Hassan al-Zarqani, spokesman for the Mehdi Army.

You Can't Wash Your Hands When There Covered In Blood

by Hart Viges

My name is Hart Viges. September 11 happened. Next day I was in the recruiting office. I thought that was the way I could make a difference in the world for the better.

So I went to infantry school and jump school and I arrived with my unit of the 82nd Airborne Division. I was deployed to Kuwait in February 2003. We drove into Iraq because Third Infantry Division was ahead of schedule, and so I didn't need to jump into Baghdad airport.

As we drove into Samawa to secure their supplies my mortar platoon dropped numerous rounds on this town. I watched Kiowa attack helicopters fire Hellfire missile after Hellfire missile. I saw a C130 Spectre gunship ... it will level a town. It had belt-fed artillery rounds pounding with these super-Gatling guns.

I don't know how many innocents I killed with my mortar rounds. I have my imagination to pick at for that one. But I clearly remember the call-out over the radio saying "Green light on all taxi-cabs. The enemy is using them for transportation".

One of our snipers called back on the radio saying "Excuse me but did I hear that order correctly? Green light on all taxi cabs?" "Roger that soldier. You'd better start buckling up." All of a sudden the city just blew up. Didn't matter if there was an innocent in the taxi-cab - we laid a mortar round on it, snipers opened up.

Next was Fallujah. We went in without a shot. But Charlie Company decided they were going to take over a school for the area of operations. Protesters would come saying "Please get out of our school. Our children need this school. We need education".

They turned them down. They came back, about 40 to 50 people. Some have the bright idea of shooting AK-47s up in the air. Well a couple of rounds fell into the school ... They laid waste to that group of people.

Then we went to Baghdad. And I had days that I don't want to remember. I try to forget. Days where we'd take contractors out to a water treatment plant outside of Baghdad.

We'd catched word that this is a kind of a scary place but when I arrive there's grass and palm trees, a river. It's the first beautiful place that seemed untouched by the war in Iraq. As we leave, RPGs come flying at us. Two men with RPGs ran up in front of us from across the road.

"Drop your weapons". "Irmie salahak." They're grabbing on to women and kids so [we] don't fire. I can't take any more and swing my [gun] over. My sight's on his chest, my finger's on the trigger. And I'm trained to kill but this is no bogey man, this is no enemy. This is a human being. With the same fears and doubts and worries. The same messed-up situation.I don't pull the trigger this time ... it throws me off. It's like they didn't tell me about this emotional attachment to killing. They tried to numb me, they tried to strip my humanity. They tried to tell me that's not a human being - that's a soft target.

So now, my imagination is running ... What if he pulled his trigger? How many American soldiers or Iraqi police, how many families destroyed because I didn't pull my trigger. After we leave this little village we get attack helicopters, Apaches, two Bradley fighting vehicles, and we go back. And we start asking questions. Where are they? Eventually they lead us to this hut where this family is living, and myself and [another soldier] started searching for AK-47s, for explosives, for RPGs, you know ... evidence. And all I can find is a tiny little pistol, probably to scare off thieves.

Well because of that pistol we took their two young men ... Their mother is at my feet trying to kiss my feet like I deserve my feet to be kissed. Screaming, pleading. I don't need to speak Arabic to know love and concern and fear. I had my attack helicopter behind me, my Bradley fighting vehicle, my armour, my M4 [semi-automatic] with laser sight. I'm an 82nd Airborne killer. But I was powerless ... to ease this woman's pain.

After I came home I applied for conscientious objector [status]. I'm a Christian, what was I doing holding a gun to another human being? Love thy neighbour. Pray for those who persecute you, don't shoot them.

I get my conscientious objector packet approved. I'm free. It's all gone now, right? No! I still swerve at trash bags ... fireworks ... I can't express anything. All my relationships are falling apart because they can't fucking understand me. How do they know the pain I've gone through or the sights I've seen? The innocence gone, stripped, dead? I couldn't stand the pain. People were leaving me.

I couldn't cut my wrists. So I called the police. They come stomping through my door. I have my knife in my hand. "Shoot me." All of a sudden I was the man with the RPG, with all the guns pointed at him, thinking "Yes, we can solve the world's problems by killing each other". How insane is that? Lucky I lived through that episode. See, you can't wash your hands when they're covered in blood. The wounds carry on. This is what war does to your soul, to your humanity, to your family.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Bush Has ChevronTexaco Lawyer Head Fed's Oil Price Gouging Probe

President Bush made sure to preempt any real investigation into price gouging by his financial backers in the oil/gas industry when last year he appointed a former ChevronTexaco lawyer, Deborah Majoras, to head the FTC.

Air Force Col: Bush, Cheney, Neocons Treasonous

"You know our freedoms are not under attack from the remnants of Saddam Hussein's Bathist Party. They're under attack by the likes of John Ashcroft. They're trampled by Donald Rumsfeld, they're disdained by Dick Cheney, and they're not even understood by George W. Bush."

NYPD Unplug Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan may be the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement. But that didn't stop members of the New York Police Department from marching into the crowd of about 150 people gathered in Union Square Monday to hear her speak and yanking away the microphone.

British Undercover Unit Has Weapons Confiscated

The day that Iraqi anger exploded in the face of the British occupiers : Dressed in plain clothes - according to some they were wearing traditional Arab dress - the two men had been driving in an unmarked car when they arrived at a checkpoint in the city. In the confrontation that followed, shots were fired, and two Iraqi policemen were shot, one of whom later died.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

What Is Covert Action?

Covert Action operations are often Disinformation Operations, which are conducted in such a way as to discredit the opposition or the enemy. This is done, for example, by doing a violent action, such as a bombing, but making it look like the forces of another country or group did it.

Khalizad Threatens Syria

The neocon program is obviously to create a string of client-states in what it calls the "Greater Middle East"---an empire dripping with oil, bedecked with U.S. military bases, spread-eagled for U.S. corporate investment, warmly receptive to Israeli advances.

Bishops Criticise US Over Foreign Policy and War on Terror

A group of Church of England bishops issued a report today criticising American foreign policy, the US war on terror and some American Christians' use of biblical texts to support a political agenda in the Middle East, and accuses the US of using illegitimate and dangerous rhetoric.

Top Dems Ignore Public

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll tells us what we already know: a strong majority of Americans favor bringing troops home from Iraq. Specifically, 55% support a withdrawal, while just 36% back Bush's position that current troop levels should be maintained

Wake Up

Hundreds of billions and tens of thousands of innocent lives wasted later, what have we achieved? Nothing.

By Cindy Sheehan

Enough, George! What is disgusting is not, as the first lady says, criticism of you, but rather the crimes you've committed against this country and our sons and daughters. Stop hiding behind your twisted idea of God and stop destroying this country.

U.S. Ambassador Predics US Will Go Into Syria

Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador to Iraq, made the off the record prediction that the US will go into Syria to combat insurgents that have been using the country as a staging ground for terrorist activity in Iraq.

"There is no yearning-to-be-liberated-by-the-U.S. groundswell among Muslim societies -- except to be liberated perhaps from what they see as apostate tyrannies that the U.S. so determinedly promotes and defends," the Pentagon board said in a report.

Hurricane Hugo At the U.N.

By Mike Whitney

Hugo Chavez's performance at the UN was greeted with the bucket-loads of bile that one expects from America's rightward-titling media. - The outpouring of venom came from all corners; appearing in many newspapers across the nation, invoking the hackneyed expressions of contempt for any foreign leader who rebuffs Washington or who follows redistributive economic policies.

Values That Make America Worth Fighting For

We Have Long Ago Lost Our Moral Compass, So How Can We Lecture the Islamic World?

By Robert Fisk

It is true that most Christians, Jews and Muslims draw on the tolerant, moderate aspects of their tradition. We prefer not to accept the fact that the religions of the children of Abraham are inherently flawed in respect of intolerance, discrimination, violence and hatred.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

New Orleans Unmasks "Aparthied, American Style"

By Jason Miller

America's wealthy, predominately white power-brokers dominate the US government by utilizing their money to win elections, buying elected officials through campaign finance, applying expensive lobbying efforts to sway votes and decisions, and exerting influence through powerful corporations.

Transcript: Hugo Chavez's Interview

Hugo Chavez told ABC News' Ted Koppel today that he has evidence of a United States plan to invade Venezuela. In New York for the U.N. Summit, Chavez discussed his strained relationship with the United States government, Robertson's comments and the United States' dependence on Venezuela's oil supply.

Chavez Frias broke the news on arrival in the USA and has reminded reporters that the Venezuelan government had offered 8 electrical plants and drinking water supplies to help the homeless, aid which has been rejected.

Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims

In the midst of administering chest compressions to a dying woman several days after Hurricane Katrina struck, Dr. Mark N. Perlmutter was ordered to stop by a federal official because he wasn't registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In case you missed it

Nuke 'em if ya got 'em

Given the Bush Doctrine's fondness for shooting first and asking questions later, it's not surprising that the military brass drafted a document titled "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" that incorporates nuclear weapons into the mix. But outside the insular mind-set of the Pentagon, American citizens ought to be shouting, "Don't even think about it!"

President Chavez's Speech to the United Nations

The full respect towards the principles of International Law and the United Nations Charter must be, Mr. President, the keystone for international relations in today's world and the base for the new order we are currently proposing.

An Elementary Truism

By Andy Price

What is right for us is right for others: if it is right for our, Western governments to reserve the right to attack a sovereign nation for either perceived crimes committed or possible future crimes, then it is right for the enemy to do the same. In this case, Iran would be well within their rights to attack the US, pre-emptively, now.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Hurricane Bolton Threatens to Wreak Havoc on the Global Poor

Unbeknownst to the US public, however, at the very time impoverished Americans are being showered with support from the world community, the Bush administration's newly appointed UN ambassador, John Bolton, has been waging an all-out attack on the global poor.

Pentagon Draft Plan Calls for Preemptive Use of Nukes

News From Behind the Facade

By John Pilger

The poor were no longer invisible; the bodies floating in contaminated water, the survivors threatened with police shotguns, the distinct obesity of American poverty - all of it mocked the forests of advertising billboards and relentless television commercials and news sound-bites (average length 9.9 seconds) that glorify the "dream" of wealth and power.

Monday, September 12, 2005

The Blue Pill People

There are none so blind as those who will not look. If you are one of those who will look, take a look around. You are surrounded -- surrounded by millions who will not look. These are the blue pill people. Who are these blue pill people and why won't they look?

A Nation Of Fools

The trouble is that most Americans don't want to know the truth because it would make them uncomfortable. So they turn their heads the other way and allow themselves to be distracted from their civic and patriotic duties.

From Federal Failure Arises More Federal Power

by Paul Craig Roberts:

Many readers see a concocted militarization of civil society. They insist that these new precedents, together with the recent federal appeals court ruling that the White House has the power to seize American citizens and to hold them indefinitely on mere suspicion or accusation without charges or presentation of evidence against them, mean the overthrow of liberty and accountable government in the United States.

Today, Padilla. Tomorrow, who?

Media coverage of Hurricane Katrina all but drowned out what may well be one of the most consequential court decisions in American history - and one that should focus even more attention on the ideological composition of the Supreme Court.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

It's Accoutability Time

by Scott Ritter:

We were repeatedly told that a threat to our security loomed on the horizon, a threat so grave we as a people needed to cede our liberties to a benevolent federal authority that guaranteed the security of a nation we now called our "homeland."

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

I said, “I will guard my ways,Lest I sin with my tongue;I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,While the wicked are before me.”I was mute with silence,I held my peace even from good;And my sorrow was stirred up.My heart was hot within me;While I was meditating, the fire burned.Then I spoke with my tongue. Psalm 39: 1-3

Drenched in profits : Drenched in blood:

by Nathaniel Turner

The economy of the United States has matured to the point of nascent fascism at home and imperialist empire abroad. As events in New Orleans and Iraq dramatically illustrate, the earth is daily being made more toxic for human beings by the American Reich.

Delusions Under Siege :

by Jason Miller

As more people become acquainted with the reality behind the veneer of lies, the Bush administration, large corporations, the wealthy elite, and powerful lobbying groups are slowly losing their grip on power as the tide of public opinion rises against them, here and abroad.http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10099.htm

The Bombs in the Basement

by Ernest Partridge:

Our job as responsible citizens is to pull away the curtain and expose the wizard as soon as possible, to minimize further damage to our country - to its economy, to its international reputation, to its honor.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A False Vision by a False Prophet

Then I said, "Ah, LORD GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'"And the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophecy lies in My name. I have not sent them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination (oracle), a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart."Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land' ---'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed." Jeremiah 14:14-17.

America, nor the administration of George W. Bush have a mandate by God to lead the world in democracy. Democracy is a false gospel that takes GOD out of government. Our present administration, its corporate backers, nor its military have any authority to judge or condemn the way of life of any other nation or its people. What intentions these administrators have is nothing short of attempting to impose their will and a way of life that is foreign to another nations people and possibly to that of which GOD intended for them. It attempts to lord over them with laws to which it does not even abide by itself for the purpose of robbing that nations resources and controlling what is not theirs to rightfully control.GOD'S grace was given not to impose His love...but that it should be received willingly. That is the difference between the doctrine Christ taught...and the false doctrine of democracy which is spread through force, corruption, bribery and death by the fanatical and faciast regime of George W. Bush and company. If it were so grand...all nations would desire it...including their leaders. But that we, Americans, see that this experiment called democracy, has done little else but lift a select few into power, forcing a multitude to suffer while the few pursue happiness at their expense.The affect that this will have on the American people will bring to nothing these administrators' promise of peace and safety. While they pursue their lofty vision, they are creating enemies for America because of our silence.

The responsibility we share for Islamist shock and awe...Citizens in democracies will be held to account for what is done in their name,

By Peter Wilby

How do you prosecute a war against the US and Britain? Muslims fight us on their own soil, but why should they not carry the fight to our homelands as we carry it to theirs? They do not possess the aircraft to fly over Washington and London and carry out "precision bombing".

Bush's dirty war is having a counterproductive effect, just as dirty wars did in Vietnam, Algeria and Argentina. For every militant abused or killed, a community of like-minded militants is inspired. Hatred, resentment and vengeance are the natural outcomes. There has never been a victory through a dirty war over these forces.

Blood and GravyThe war on Iraq is "largely a matter of loot" - By Chris Floyd

Although Halliburton has already entered the American lexicon as a byword for rampant cronyism, the true extent of its dense and deadly web of graft is only now emerging, most recently in a remarkable public hearing that revealed some of the corporation's standard business practices in Iraq: fraud, extortion, brutality, pilferage, theft -- even serving rotten food to U.S. soldiers in the battle zone.

Single is the Race

A 6th century BCE poem written by Greek poet Pindar

Single is the race, singleOf men and gods;From a single mother we both draw breath.But a difference of power in everythingKeeps us apart;For one is as nothing, but the brazen skyStays a fixed habituation for ever.Yet we can in greatness of mindOr of body be like the immortals.

"Search for the truth is the noblest occupation of man; its publication is a duty." : Anne Louise Germaine de Stael - (1766-1817) French author

"A slave is he who cannot speak his thoughts.": Euripides

"The modern susceptibility to conformity and obedience to authority indicates that the truth endorsed by authority is likely to be accepted as such by a majority of the people." David Edwards - British columnist - Source: Burning All Illusions, 1996

While most may believe that it is necessary to take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a friend for a friend, a neighbor for a neighbor, a brother for a brother, a life for a life, there are a few yet that believe we should give a vision for vision, teaching for teaching, caring for caring, sharing for sharing, loyalty for loyalty, love for love. To give any of these is a voluntary act of love. To take any of these is a vengeful act of hatred. It is the battle we are all now in and the mortal motive which we must all decide upon from the head to the very toe of our nation.

What empire that has gone before us did not meet its destiny in shame and ruin? Are we somehow different than the nations of history, who all started out with good intentions…or so it may have seemed?

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government: Edward Abbey

Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires: Edward W. Said - "Orientalism 25 Years Later," Counterpunch.org website, 4 August 2003.

This nation’s leaders are trying so hard to be god–like themselves…to exalt their throne above the heavens…to sit on the throne of God, thinking they are God and yet, rejecting everything that is Godly…like so many nations who have gone before us....to be the “Kingdom of God,” in their own right and by their own power in their efforts to build an empire for themselves. But God’s kingdom is within us and not of this world… God is spirit and truth, not flesh and blood. Any attempt to create a worldly kingdom for God is an idol, an image, and is false. It cannot be created without and put on, but rather it must come from within and be radiated outwardly...its face is of spiritual blessing. It is not created by man but can be received by man to share with God…an inheritance that everyone might share a portion of.

Rather than yielding to the powers that be, the inheritance set aside for us from before the foundation of the world, those that existed before we were ever created, in order to be that example that Christ laid before us, this nation has fallen to the deceit of Satan in thinking that it is or can be the Savior of the world. We have become a nation that relies on its own strength, its own power, its own thoughts, ways, and ideas. We believe that we have the answers for all of the rest of humanity. We believe and try to sell our ways to the rest of the world whether through bribery, extortion, or force, when in truth it we not enough answers for our own people.

Here is a list of the empires who have gone before us in their efforts to rule over God’s creation… the ones who wanted to rule the world; to sit at the right hand of God with judgement on their wings against all men:

Conquered and fallen-Babylonian EmpireConquered and fallen-Persian EmpireConquered and fallen-Greek EmpireConquered and fallen-Phoenician EmpireConquered and fallen-Egyptian EmpireConquered and fallen-Roman EmpireConquered and fallen-Ottoman EmpireConquered and fallen-Byzantine EmpireConquered and fallen-Spanish EmpireConquered and fallen-British EmpireConquered and fallen-The German “Third Reich”

And The LORD GOD said:"Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua (meaning: Yahwey saves), that I will utterly blot out the rememberance of Amalek from under heaven."

And Mosesbuilt an alter and called its name, The-LORD-Is-My-Banner;

for he said, "The LORD has sworn: the LORD will have wear with Amalek from generation to generation."

Each of the man-gods that ruled these empires tried to establish their own way, their own wisdom, and their own set of principles, rules, and laws…each attempted to impose them on the rest of the nations they brought under their influence, drawing off of the empires that fell before them in an effort to improve on their errors. Each saw themselves as invincible, above the law, and beyond reproach. Each bore the same character as Amalek whom GOD had sworn to Moses that He will have war against until his rememberance is utterly blotted out from under heaven.

In the end the prudent and wise men who ruled these empires and those who became their followers saw that what started with good intentions on their part, ended in their ruin, as well as the decay and ruin of their empires. What had brought about this ruin is the national pride that comes through conquest, the self-righteousness that comes through domination, the corruption that comes through wealth, and the violence that is necessary to hold onto it in order maintain the empire. Each was defeated by the selfishness of their own hand.

The rulers of these empires exhibited an outward image of high moral values, while all the while they plotted and schemed ways to grab more for themselves.

"There are some whose only reason for inciting war is to use it as a means to exercise their tyranny over their subjects more easily. For in times of peace the authority of the assembly, the dignity of the magistrates, the force of the laws stand in the way to some extent of the ruler doing what he likes. But once war is declared then the whole business of state is subject to the will of a few ... They demand as much money as they like. Why say more?" [Erasmus of Rotterdam 1469-1536, Adages IV.i.1]

“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” I Corinthians 1: 20

It is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” I Corintheans 1:19

There is and always was…only One answer, ONE Banner...and that is "TRUTH." Rather than freely receive what we have been freely given but at a heavy price to be paid by the Giver, in order that we might set an example and reflect that gift…we have fallen, like the rest of the nations through history, to the devices and desires of our own hearts. And though we may confess these things during our solemn services…we have not forsaken them in our desire to sit at the right hand of God…a place that is already occupied…and a place that every man, woman and child desires to be at the expense of his/her neighbor, exalting self so that others might see.

From the head, to the very tip of the toes the manifestation of Satan has taken hold in our nation. Yet, those who exalt themselves will be humbled.

A Time Called “When”

A Time Called “When”By Hugh Lipsius

Years ago and far away, or was it yesterday?Perhaps it never was at all, and now is because it was told;A time to come and not that is, to help us reconcile.A bit of poetry, it began, to paint a picture of a time called whenIn an effort to see how happy you’d be,But with a trembling hand it was great responsibility.I can see the pen dangling over the page;Whose blank lines were at once to showOnly truth and no lie about the face that will pass us by.Perhaps this time and place called when is only a hope written downIn case there was a time that we had need for one,Could all only hope for it then?By writing deep thoughts, and mingling it with blood:This thrill to our heart, that ends in a smile is our hope of the time called when.Can it have its effect in the shadow it casts on the pages that mimic its lightAnd the shine that its love is hidden behind, the star that shines at night.So let truth light the way in the darkness of shame and a fear of what it might be.For stars always shine, but in day we are blind to the wonderful presence they are.What light, I ask, cannot brighten the darkness of this shadow of death upon us?Find it then, look hard in yourself, open the eyes that are in you.Believe in the time, a time called when you need no other time to see.Was it written for when there would be nothing else, or when there is everything?

MARTIN LTHER KING Jr.

"A time comes when silence is betrayal.""History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.By Rev. Martin Luther King - 4 April 1967 - Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City

Peace is more important than all justice; and was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace: Martin Luther

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal'": Martin Luther King Jr.

Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

-- I am a concerned veteran of the Iraq War. I am not an expert on the vast and wide range of issues throughout the political spectrum, but I can offer some first hand experience of the war in Iraq through the eyes of a soldier.

My view of the situation in Iraq will differ from what the American People are being told by the Bush Administration. The purpose of this message is to voice my concern that we were misled into war and continue to be misled about the situation in Iraq every day. My opinions on this matter come from what I witnessed in Iraq personally.

George Bush and his political advisors have been successful in presenting a false image to the American people that Saddam Hussein was an "imminent" threat to the security of the United States. We were told that there was overwhelming evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed a massive WMD program, and some members of the Bush Administration even hinted that Saddam may have been involved in the 9/11 attacks. We now know most of the information given to us by the current Administration concerning Iraq, if not all the information, was false. This was information given to the American people to justify a war.

The information about weapons of mass destruction and a link to Osama Bin Laden scared the American people into supporting the war in Iraq. They presented an atmosphere of intimidation that suggested if we did not act immediately there was the possibility of another attack. Bush said himself that we do not want the proof or the smoking gun to come in the form of a "mushroom cloud." Donald Rumsfeld said, "We know where the weapons are."

After 9/11, comments like this proved to be a successful scare tactic to use on the American People to rally support for the invasion. Members of the Bush Administration created an image of "wine and roses" in terms of the aftermath of the war. Vice-President Dick Cheney said American troops would be greeted as "liberators." And there was a false perception created that we would go into Iraq and implement a democratic government and it would be over more sooner than later.

The White House also expressed confidence that the alleged WMD program would be found once we invaded. I participated in the invasion, stayed in Iraq for a year afterward, and what I witnessed was the total opposite of what President Bush and his Administration stated to the American People. The invasion was very confusing, and so was the period of time I spent in Iraq afterward.

At first it did seem as if some of the Iraqi people were happy to be rid of Saddam Hussein. But that was only for a short period of time. Shortly after Saddam's regime fell, the Shiite Muslims in Iraq conducted a pilgrimage to Karbala, a pilgrimage prohibited by Saddam while he was in power. As I witnessed the Shiite pilgrimage, which was a new freedom that we provided to them, they used the pilgrimage to protest our presence in their country. I watched as they beat themselves over the head with sticks until they bled, and screamed at us in anger to leave their country. Some even carried signs that stated, "No Saddam, No America." These were people that Saddam oppressed; they were his enemies. To me, it seemed they hated us more than him.

At that moment I knew it was going to be a very long deployment. I realized that I was not being greeted as a liberator. I became overwhelmed with fear because I felt I never would be viewed that way by the Iraqi people. As a soldier this concerned me. Because if they did not view me as a liberator, then what did they view me as? I felt that they viewed me as foreign occupier of their land. That led me to believe very early on that I was going to have a fight on my hands.

During my year in Iraq I had many altercations with the so-called "insurgency." I found the insurgency I saw to be quite different from the insurgency described to the American people by the Bush Administration, the media, and other supporters of the war.

There is no doubt in my mind there are foreigners from other surrounding countries in Iraq. Anyone in the Middle East who hates America now has the opportunity to kill Americans because there are roughly 140,000 US troops in Iraq. But the bulk of the insurgency I faced was primarily the people of Iraq who were attacking us as a reaction to what they felt was an occupation of their country.

I was engaged actively in urban combat in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad. Many of the people who were attacking me were the poor people of Iraq. They were definitely not members of Al Qaeda, left over Baath Party members, and they were not former members of Saddam's regime. They were just your average Iraqi civilian who wanted us out of their country.

On October 31st, 2003, the people of Abu Ghraib organized a large uprising against us. They launched a massive assault on our compound in the area. We were attacked with AK-47 machine guns, RPGs and mortars. Thousands of people took to the streets to attack us. As the riot unfolded before my eyes, I realized these were just the people who lived there. There were men, women, and children participating. Some of the Iraqi protesters were even carrying pictures of Saddam Hussein. My battalion fought back with everything we had and eventually shut down the uprising. So while President Bush speaks of freedom and liberation of the Iraqi people, I find his statements are not credible after witnessing events such as these.

During the violence that day I felt so much fear throughout my entire body. I remember going home that night and praying to God, thanking him that I was still alive. A few months earlier President Bush made the statement, "Bring it on" when referring to the attacks on Americans by the insurgency. To me, that felt like a personal invitation to the insurgents to attack me and my friends who desperately wanted to make it home alive.

I did my job well in Iraq. During the deployment, my superiors promoted me to the rank of sergeant. I was made a rifle team leader and was put in charge of other soldiers when we carried out missions. My time as a Team Leader in Iraq was temporarily interrupted when I was sent to the "Green Zone" in Baghdad to train the Iraqi army. I was more than happy to do it because we were being told that in order for us to get out of Iraq completely the Iraqi military would have to be able to take over all security operations.

The training of the Iraqi Army became a huge concern of mine. During the time I trained them, their basic training was only one week long. We showed them some basic drill and ceremony such as marching and saluting. When it came time for weapons training, we gave each Iraqi recruit an AK-47 and just let them shoot it. They did not even have to qualify by hitting a target. All they had to do was pull the trigger. I was instructed by my superiors to stand directly behind them with caution while they were shooting just in case they tried to turn the weapon on us so we could stop them.

Once they graduated from basic training, the Iraqi soldiers in a way became part of our battalion and we would take them on missions with us. But we never let them know where we were going, because we were afraid some of them might tip off the insurgency that we were coming and we would walk directly into an ambush. When they would get into formation prior to the missions we made them a part of, they would cover their faces so the people of their communities did not identify them as being affiliated with the American troops.

Not that long ago President Bush made a statement at Fort Bragg when he addressed the nation about the war in Iraq. He said we would "stand down" when the Iraqi military is ready to "stand up." My experience with the new Iraqi military tells me we won't be coming home for a long time if that's the case.

I left Iraq on February 27, 2004 and I acknowledge a lot may have changed since then, but I find it hard to believe the Iraqi people are any happier now than they were when was I was there.

I remember the day I left there were hundreds of Iraqis in the streets outside the compound that I lived in. They watched as we moved out to the Baghdad Airport to finally go home. The Iraqis cheered, clapped, and shouted with joy as we were le! aving. As a soldier, that hurt me inside because I thought I was supposed to be fighting for their freedom. I saw many people die for that cause, but that is not how the Iraqi people looked at it. They viewed me as a foreign occupier and many of the people of Iraq may have even preferred Saddam to the American soldiers.

I feel this way because of the consistent attacks on me and my fellow soldiers by the Iraqi people, who felt they were fighting for their homeland. To us the mission turned into a quest for survival. I wish I could provide an answer to this mess. I wish I knew of a realistic way to get our troops home. But we are very limited in our options in my opinion. If we pull out immediately, it's likely the Iraqi security forces will not be able to provide stability on their own.

In that event, the new Iraqi government could possibly be overthrown. The other option would be to reduce our troop numbers and have a gradual pullout. That is very risky because it seems that even with the current number of troops the violence still continues. With a significant troop reduction, there is a strong possibility the violence and attacks on US and coalition forces could escalate and get even worse. In my opinion, that is more of a certainty.

And then there is the option that President Bush brings to the table which is to "Stay the Course." That means more years of bloodshed and a lot more lives to be lost. Also, it will aggravate the growing opposition to the US presence in Iraq throughout the region and that could very well recruit more extremists to join terror organizations that will infiltrate into Iraq and kill more US troops.

So it does not seem to me we have a realistic solution, and that frightens me. It has become very obvious that we have a serious dilemma that needs to be resolved as soon as possible to end the ongoing violence in Iraq.

But how do we end it is the question?

We must always support the troops. If there were a situation in which the United States is attacked again by a legitimate enemy, they are the people who are going to risk their lives to protect us and our freedom. In my opinion, the best way to support them now is to bring them home with the honor and respect they deserve.

In closing, I ask that we never forget why this war started.

The Bush Administration cried weapons of mass destruction and a link to Al Queda. We know that this is false and the Bush administration concedes it as well. As a soldier who fought in that war, I feel misled. I feel that I was sent off to fight for a cause that never existed. When I joined the military I did so to defend the United States of America, not to be sent off to a part of the world to fight people who never attacked me or my country. Many have died as a result of this.

The people who started this war need to start being honest with the American people and take responsibility for their actions. More than anything, they need to stop saying everything is rosy and create a solution to this problem they created.

Thank you for hearing me out. God Bless our great nation, the United States of America.

John BruhnsTranslate this page(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

The Mark of the Beast

by Hugh Lipsius

While 70 % of the worlds population survives on as little as a cup of rice each day, and some even less: and while 1% of the worlds population controls the wealth and abundance of this planet…who then do that 1% serve if not they themselves? And whose way of life are we asked to defend? Of the remaining 29%...who do we serve…the one…or the many? Are we soldiers of oppression or soldiers of truth…because it is we who stand in the worldly gap between the one and the many?

E Pluribus Unum means “out of the many came the one.”

If this 1%, the self designated privileged few had anyone’s best interest in mind but their own, then why have we seen the rise in so many billionaires? Only a few decades ago it was a great thing to be a millionaire, but now that time has passed and the world is now seeing the wealth of these rise into the tens of billions while the ranks of those who have little or nothing continues to grow. What little these privileged few have shared has only been for the purpose of gaining more for themselves, or protecting what they have. The lives of the multitudes have been forced to rejoice in the few because they depend upon these few to supply them with even their very most basic needs, needs that were created by the greed of these privileged few.

6 is the number for man… “And on the sixth day, God created Man…”, one man...600 is therefore a multitude of men, (out of the many)...60 or "threescore" is taken from a root word, “suws” or “siys” meaning to rejoice, be bright, , make mirth, joy…And again…6…the number of man…as in one man… “The one..”

What then have we except a” multitude of men” (600) who are “rejoicing” (threescore) in “one man” (6)… 666…not one man who is God, or the Son of God, or Immanuel…but rather simply and merely… one man?

For “out of the many, came the one,” which translated into Latin is “E Pluribus Unum.”

A man who must always make preparation, the sixth day of the week being the day of preparation, and a man who is neither complete nor whole as Christ was.

Yet Christ was the anointed “One”. He did not come, but was sent. Divinity veiled in humanity, who “was sent for” the “many,” prepared from before the foundation of the world… predestined and already complete and whole. He is the sacred 777 and what He finished also is complete, needing nothing else to finish His work. What He finished set us at liberty, making us free, serving Gods justice, uniting us in His love, and giving us peace with that very same God who created us, for all eternity. All that is required from us is to humble ourselves and claim what He finished, never having to defend our decision to do so, nor our desire for such. And once claimed, never having to worry about losing it if it comes under attack. It is already defended…by the same truth that set us free. All that can attack it are lies that attempt to create fear and doubt… the tools of Satan in order to set himself up as ruler of this world. But truth is stronger than even this.

There is a saying that "the love of money is the root of all evil." Yet the love of money is not about the money in and of itself, but what that money is able to buy...the lives and hearts and souls of men. That the love of it is the root can give a clue as to who the beast is and what his mark will be. A wealthy nation in the eyes of the world is not wealthy in the eyes of GOD...but rather, just the opposite...He considers them "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,"...because in their eyes they have become "rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing." Revelations 3:17...

Only the truth can cast off this mark of the beast...but find it now...be zealous for it and repent...because there comes a time when the doors to GOD's kingdom will be closed forever.

"I can never forget that one of the most gifted, best educated nations in the world, of its own free will, surrendered its fate into the hands of a maniac." Eric Hoffer, Speaking on Germany - "The True Believer," http://www.erichoffer.net/

Mine Eyes Have Seen

by Hugh Lipsius

Make no mistake, the real enemies are lies disguised as truth creating doubt and fear. It is these lies that create the causes that each man is reluctantly forced to take sides with in order that pride shall cover their fear…the true darkness… the cry behind which each man stands on the same killing fields as his brother, his neighbor, while God rips that pride from his heart and the desire to ever kill again those whom he shall never know.

Yet it is these causes that will judge the motives and intent of every man.

This will not be just a war, or a just war...but it will be a moment by moment decision between two brothers who oppose each other, pitted against each other in fear by the cause they were sold which fills them with pride in order that their fear remain hidden… each trying to survive on the same piece of land, ready and willing to kill for it, or even die for it.

Multiply this by the thousands, and then by the millions, and even perhaps, billions. It is the same decision that is inside us all between what is of this world and what is greater than this world.

Hatred and love, selfishness and self sacrifice are all intertwined in a bloodlust that is disguised in a cacophony of names and ideals, beliefs and dreams, visions and ambitions and causes more confusing than the battles or wars themselves.No man shall ever be a victor here. It’s only the cause that seems to win, the ideal, the vision or dream while the ground is baptized in the blood of those so hell-bent on dieing for it; an ideal, that no matter how much blood is shed for it may very well die one day itself: Democracy, freedom, unity, liberty, stability, the pursuit of happiness and even world peace.

These have become merely bywords for the greed and lusts for power and riches of some men; the causes by which they make good men to fight, multiplying their fears, selling them lies, buying their loyalty, giving to these men a royal motive behind which each man is required to stand that his pride shall sit on the throne of God in fear that it is not God who has been invited to sit there.

Yet, there should be only one cause that draws men together, not in battle against one another, but for the learning and doing of good…One word that men should be willing to die for in order that they might live…

...truth.

God’s cause is to seek justice, not vengeance, to rebuke the oppressor, not wage war against him, to defend or vindicate the fatherless, not create them, or fix blame on them in order to condemn...and finally...to plead for the widows and the orphans as advocates rather than pretending they don’t exist, or that they are someone else’s problem, or creating them through more wars.

This can only be done by embracing the truth, by embracing that which agrees with the final reality. By this cause we should stand, and any other is a false cause, a worldly pretense that deceives men into thinking they are doing righteousness.

These false causes are the way of the world and are merely a pretense for the lusts and greed of some men. They may seem right to man, but only lead to his destruction.The destruction wrought by wars that are based upon false causes, based upon the greed of a few, that continue the corruption of man leaves a swath of death in its path…not just of the flesh, but of the spirit and soul as well.

Quotes from History

It is part of the moral tragedy with which we are dealing that words like "democracy," "freedom," "rights," "justice," which have so often inspired heroism and have led men to give their lives for things which make life worthwhile, can also become a trap, the means of destroying the very things men desire to uphold. Sir Norman Angell (1874 - 1967), 1956.

"As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless." : U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 - (letter to Col. William F. Elkins) - Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)

My Brother's Keeper

by Hugh Lipsius

“If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.” I John 5: 16, 17.

I cannot sit by idly, praying in the face of deadly sin. This is not a time to pray but a time to speak.

To everything there is a purpose under heaven……A time to keep silence,And a time to speak. Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 7

Therefore, the prudent keep silent at that time,For it is an evil time.Seek good and not evil,That you may live;So the LORD God of hosts will be with you,As you have spoken. Amos 5: 13, 14

"Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them. There is almost no kind of outrage-----torture, imprisonment without trial, assassination, the bombing of civilians-----which does not change its moral color when it is committed by 'our' side. The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”: George Orwell

“Thou shalt not kill.”

There are no exceptions to this rule.

“If any man sheds mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man.”

These words were spoken by the Almighty and were said by Him after the fall of man in Eden. They were spoken as a rebuke to all mankind…not just Americans, or Arabs, or Jews…but all mankind.

God is not a respecter of persons. These words were intended to address the violence and corruption in the world, both before the Great Flood in the days of Noah and after , even to this day. It is an immutable commandment with no exceptions given. Those who shed blood are they that reject Christ and the way in which He taught us. Christ shed His blood so that no other blood need be shed…nor is worthy to be for the purpose it was anointed. And any man that does not speak out for that truth is just as guilty of that shed blood as though he had shed it himself. Christ did not set us at liberty through the shedding of His blood so that we would kill each other in order to hold onto it…it is only the greed for gain that man kills for.

“For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8: 36, 37.

He will guard the feet of His saints,But the wicked shall be silent in darkness. I Samuel 2:9

Can you kill someone then, as God often commanded His people to do, without shedding blood?

Yes, by making them aware of their sins, they become dead in their sins…shame leaves us empty inside… dead and in need of God for salvation by the shed blood of Jesus Christ , who is life.

Where then is the manifestation of the conscious bearing thoughts, the plea stricken voice of those who have taken up God’s cause? Thou shalt not take (in relationship to oneself) the Lord thy God’s name (character) in vain (without taking up His cause).

Shame on us! Not all who call themselves Christian are Christian... because a tree is not known by its name, but rather by the fruit that it bears. If it calls itself a truth tree but only bears lies...then it is a lieing tree. If it calls itself righteous, but only bears unrighteous fruit...it is an unrighteous tree...and all unrighteousness is sin.

That my God is the author of diversity is true. All of nature testifies of it. But do the clouds fight to remain united with the sky? Does the earth do battle with the tree that’s planted in it? Does the dry land wage war against the roar of the sea? No, they yield to one another.

Even now all created things declare the glory of His excellence. There is nothing, except the selfish heart of man that lives unto itself. No bird that cleaves the air, no animal that walks upon the ground, but ministers to some other life. There is no leaf of the forest, or lowly blade of grass, but that has its ministry. Every tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that element without which no man nor animal could live; and man and animal, in turn, minister to the life of tree and shrub and leaf. The flowers breathe fragrance and unfold their beauty in blessing to the world. The sun sheds its light to gladden a thousand worlds. The ocean, itself the source of all our springs and fountains, receives the streams from every land, but takes to give. The mists ascending from its bosom fall in showers to water the earth, that it may bring forth and bud: Ellen White, “The Desire of ages.” 1899

Only man, with his so called intellect, prudence, and wisdom puts his ideals and desires and need to survive above all else in creation, including and especially each other, forgetting that death is only the passageway to life. Every seed must fall from the tree, or plant or fruit, lay in the ground for a season as though dead before springing to life. If the seed fell on good ground, then it will bear much life...if not...then it will die before it bears more seed.

“For whosoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whosoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Mark 8:35

Only man lives like this…carving up the earth…destroying it in the name of progress…killing for what neither belongs to him, nor , at times does he even need…yet he claims these things for himself, while at the same time claiming to be “under God” who is the Creator and Possessor of all. He adds to this a lofty cause or ideal that stirs up the hearts of other men to do his dirty work, while he himself has no heart of his own. In his selfishness, his desire, his doubt, and his fear, he has become an instrument of Satan in order to do the works of the devil.

Sitting far from the battlefield, these are men who cannot create one blade of grass, or any other living thing for that matter, but in all they create, death and destruction follows in his path. Dead works in which there is no life…dead works in which life is destroyed in order to create them and feed his lusts wearing out the earth like an old cloth. This kind of plant cannot sustain itself frever...it willo eventually die before it can produce any seed.

Then, what is the heart of man?

That all men (and women) are created equal is true, but that does not mean that all men are created identical. That equal means identical is a lie. Compliance with the laws and adventures of man and his rulers, when it knowingly goes against the laws of God is nothing short of taking the mark of the beast that pursues the injustices of a worldly kingdom.

When God created Eve, he created a partner for Adam equal to himself…Two diverse individuals, yet equally sharing God’s love in which they were created. It is God’s love that made them equal...not that each were identically the same.

For some men to impose their identical ideals, thoughts, visions, dreams and ambitions on anyone…or any nation…by coercion, intimidation, force, or fear, or even through the enactment of laws of any kind is an attempt to lord these same things over men in an effort to compel others to become identical to them; to usurp Gods love as instruments of Satan, begetting instruments of Satan through the introduction of lies that create doubt and fear, which are the true causes of violence and corruption.

The highest form of worship is to imitate the one who is worshipped...whether it be governments, powers, or principalities...apart from God and His ways, it is the worship of the devil.Eve offering Adam the same fruit in which she ate, and Adam accepting it, knowing full well that it was not what God desired. It is an attempt to defy Christ’s words when He said… “In My Fathers house there are many mansions,” or the words of Paul… “There are diversities of ministries…but the same Lord”… “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit”… “And there are diversities of activities; but it is the same God who works all in all.” Or even that God made some to be honored and some to be dishonored…so who are we to say “why have you made me this way.” He made some to laugh and some to cry…some to be rich and some to be poor…some to lead and some to follow…some to sow and some to reap.

If these ideals, these causes, these visions are equal to those of God, then we are reflecting His image and doing what is according to His Word and according to His will. But these manufactured causes are often not in equality with God’s. They are only disguised as though they were. The very loftiness and ambition of their nature testifies where they are from. They test the true nature of men just as surely as Satan tempted Christ in the wilderness “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”

These causes are not for the purpose of teaching the voluntary act of love…but are for the oppression of other men through the deceit of a manufactured cause and for the sake of gain for a few. There is really nothing to rule and lord over in this world except for other men who are all created equal.It is usually propagated by lies, disguised as truth, to create a fear making wars that only shift power from the hands of a select to the hands of a different select; whoever creates a better cause worth fighting for. What is worse is that the men who pursue these lies believe them, preferring to believe they are more noble, worthy and good and that their intentions, visions, ambitions, ideals, and goals are what is best for the human race. If that were so, then what do they fear, and why do they try to deceive except in an effort to protect thei lofty place.Only God is good. Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.” Romans 3:4What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jewes and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: "There are none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There are none who does good, no, not one."Their throat is an open tomb (grave); With their tongue they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known. Their is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3: 11-18.Fear is a powerful and dangerous force. Men who create fear through lies are the same ones who use liberty as a cloak for covetousness. The soldier on the battle field gains nothing except to win or loose with his blood the cause he was sold. But when it’s over all will suffer except those who have gained the most power with the money or blood they used to buy it, or the cause they gathered men around. Over time even those causes fought for may, or will soon die or be killed. In the end all will have to give an account.

The founding fathers of this nation…America…The United States…are rolling over in their graves while the elitist few have their way. Their evilness disguised as good intentions have led this nation down its path to ruin.

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest: -Thomas Jefferson

How you can win the population for war: At first, the statesman will invent cheap lying, that impute the guilt of the attacked nation, and each person will be happy over this deceit that calm the conscience. It will study it detailed and refuse to test arguments of the other opinion. So he will convince step for step even there from that the war is just and thank God, that he, after this process of grotesque even deceit, can sleep better: Mark Twain

“One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” This is our pledge that we attempt to fulfill while the leaders of the so called free world enrich themselves on it by heaping its rewards to themselves through their conquests.

This is the pledge of the people, and yet, their government, which is by the people, for the people, and of the people, are not under GOD. They have not placed themselves under His authority voluntarily but rather have seperated themselves from what the Christian majority have come to believe is the body of their GOD...the Church with Christ as its head.

How can this be. How can the American people...or at least the believing public allow themselves to be ruled by two heads...or rather, ruled by a head that has become severed from their body.

Perhaps you are saying to yourself, " I am not ruled by any man...but that Christ is your only ruler." You deceive yourself!!! You have voted for, you support with taxes, and you succumb to the decisions made by an entity that has seperated itself from you and all members as the body of Christ.

But that should not keep us from fulfilling the pledge you have made..."One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all." Even if that means going up against that seperate entity who has deceived the people into thinking they work for their good as if they were GOD.

Though we are one nation, and claim in our pledge to be indivisible, our leaders have divided us in an effort to subjugate us to their agenda of power and greed.

Class against class, educated against labor, black against white,Christian against Christian, strong against weak, citizen against stranger, party against party and cause agaist cause...This is in essence, shoving our own pledge in our own faces so that some may benefit while lives and love are torn apart. It has been the way of some men throughout the history of man to divide, without ever learning a thing; because “We the People” insist on putting our decisions in the hands of anybody other than ourselves. By doing this, it gives us someone to blame, and as long as we are willing to pay someone to blame, we give them free reign to do as they please…as long as you or I don’t have to take responsibility and can hold others responsible in the end. But we all share in the blame. Everyone who keeps silent, allowing it to continue while their conscience says it is wrong shares in the blame. And then we will cover our mouths and say, “How did things get this way?” Yet if we followed the golden rule to love one another as Christ loved us, with truth spoken, then all should be as concerned for his or her neighbors salvation as much as they are for their own. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

War is not the price for peace. “One” has already shed the blood for our peace with God, for which no other blood needs to be shed, nor is worthy to be, “once and for all.” And without peace with God, there will never be peace on this earth. “One” has already set men at liberty through the forgiveness of sin. Upon His cross he said, “It is finished.” But those who create the visions, the dreams, the causes, the ideals, by which they hope to rule over what God has already set free, are usurpers to the forgiveness which God has designed that all mankind should benefit from, selling a false doctrine of worldly peace that excludes the God of our fathers and makes for themselves the title of “god, lord, ruler,” by the destruction of their wars. This is Baal, and all that worship this falsehood worship a false god, a false prophet. These men tally up the cost for their peace in human lives lost and blood shed to consolidate or transfer the power that they crave with greed, flown in on the wings of a worldly vision and then sold to the masses who then buy it with their blood, or the blood of their neighbor.

One day, a final battle will be fought; one that will so sicken men by its brutality, that the smell will be fixed in his soul forever, an odor no mans lust can erase; or that any man’s cause or vision or ideal or difference can ever bring him to lift up his hand in anger or vengeance or hatred against his fellow human, his neighbor, his brother, ever again. This olfactory smell can only bring to recall an agony so sharp, an inherited piercing of the soul so deep, that it can never, ever again be ignored because of the words of men or the thoughts of self. It will be a remembrance that is so deep in the earth and in our thoughts that it will make a soul cringe at the very thought of ever taking another life rather than forgiving it, or of ever lifting a hand up in anger against its neighbor, friend, or brother from this race we call humanity. It will cry out from the very ground we stand on; the very ground that has soaked up the blood from countless lives in days gone by of endless wars, forgiven, but not forgotten; from the multitude of kindred souls crying up, “never again. It is finished. It is enough.”

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the LORD. Now we know that whatever the law says, it is written to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:19,20.

America has no mandate by God to judge or condemn the way of life of any other nation. What intentions its administrators have is nothing short of imposing a way of life that is foreign to that nation and to which God intends... and then lording over it with its laws.